| Fifteen minutes after the sun had broken the horizon,
south of the Alaska Range, 35 runners began their celebration of our soon-to-be
shortest day. With temperatures in the -10° to -20°F range, and the
sky filled with low orange sunlight and two distinct sundogs, the runners worked
their way around the Miller Hill loop course. Temperatures were at their
coldest around Ballaine Lake and back onto the UAF campus, resulting in heavily
frosted and iced runners crossing the finish line. Bill Gardner, who finished
6th in the Seattle Marathon a few weeks ago, won the race with a time of 39:41;
the first woman across the black line in the snow was Michelle Mitchell in
44:23. Only 7 more days and about 6 fewer minutes, and we'll be headed back
towards longer days and increasing daylight! |
